Research your suburb and surrounding area

Even if you are familiar with a local area it’s still worth thinking about who will buy the property from you in the future. WalkScore is a great tool to give you an idea on the local transportation situation, parks and my personal favourite, the Travel Time Map—this uses maps to show how far you can get from your potential new home by walking 20 minutes, driving 10 minutes, etc.

The Travel Time Map shows how close your new home is to all the local amenities!

It looks like 82 Charlotte Street is a solid buy, with a Walk Score of 94 out of 100. This location is considered a ‘Walker’s Paradise’ so daily errands do not require a car which means it could be a good property for renters in the future and has lots of cafes and restaurants.

This home in Brisbane is apparently a walkers paradise! Good job.

Another tool I like using at this stage is Microburbs. This gives you some really powerful data that can help understand the property and the local area quickly, including demographic data that has been extracted directly from the Census. It includes lots of different data to help get you familiar with the area very quickly, including:

Hip score: Stats on how many people are commuters and data from the Census to give you an idea on who your future rental tenants might be.

Family score: Stats on local schools, day care and universities.

Lifestyle score: Stats on local cafes, pubs, gyms and pools.

Community score: Stats on long-term residents and other community actives in the area.